Key Takeaways
- Microsoft may be partnering with Samsung on components to develop an Apple Vision Pro style mixed reality headset.
- The headset is equipped with a Micro OLED display, providing brighter, higher-resolution images.
- Microsoft may use an Android-based OS and stream Windows apps from the cloud.
Microsoft has stayed pretty distanced from XR since shutting down its own mixed reality platform, but that may soon be changing, according to additional reports from The Elec and Windows Central: Microsoft is apparently developing its own Apple Vision Pro-style mixed reality headset.
Not only has the company struck a deal with Samsung to manufacture displays for future mixed reality devices, but it also appears to be working on ways to bring some of the traditional Windows experience to head-mounted devices that aren’t as powerful as traditional PCs. Microsoft was an early player in both augmented and mixed reality, but aside from continuing to support HoloLens 2 for enterprise customers and bringing some Windows apps to Quest, it hasn’t had any interest in the metaverse or “augmented reality,” focusing instead on AI. Whether that changes in the short term remains to be seen, but there’s growing evidence that it could.
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The Meta Quest OS will also be used in other headsets, including Xbox headsets.
Meta aims to be the Android of virtual reality and mixed reality headsets, and has backing from Asus, Lenovo, and Xbox.
Microsoft’s mixed reality device isn’t entirely enterprise-ready
Micro OLED is part of the package
Elec claims that Microsoft has asked Samsung to manufacture an unknown number of micro-OLEDs to power future mixed reality devices. The high-density displays are the same type that Apple uses to deliver near-lifelike image quality in its Vision Pro, and are ideal for watching videos and playing games. Both Microsoft and Samsung are apparently in the early stages of development on the new displays (Apple’s displays are made by Sony), but it may be a few more years before they appear in products that consumers can buy.
So even if Microsoft is working on its own mixed reality device, there’s a long way to go before it becomes a reality. Still, the company has at least given a glimpse of what it might look like. Patents don’t necessarily indicate intent, but Microsoft has its own take on an EyeSight-style external display and face-tracking system intended to be attached to a headset. Of the areas where it would make sense to copy Vision Pro, EyeSight seems the least important, but at least someone at Microsoft is thinking about mixed reality headsets.
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Android operating system and streaming Windows app
Microsoft / Pocket-lint
The software side of Microsoft’s future headset seems more clear. Windows Central writes that Microsoft will likely use Android for its mixed reality devices, rather than a reinterpreted version of Windows. Given that both Google and Samsung are collaborating on mixed reality versions of Android, that would give Microsoft a pretty good foundation to start from. The company has experience developing for Android, and has already technically enabled mixed reality experiences for Android-based headsets by porting Windows 365 apps to the Quest.
But Microsoft isn’t just interested in Android wrappers for web apps: According to Windows Central, the company is developing a project codenamed “Williams Bay” to run Windows apps in mixed reality environments, streamed from the cloud. These would appear in floating windows, similar to Vision Pro’s apps, but could also theoretically be augmented with 3D experiences.
Mixed reality is not yet proven
It’s still years away from a Microsoft headset appearing in the future, if it even comes at all. In the meantime, the company is partnering with Meta to develop an Xbox-branded Quest headset, which, if it turns out to be more than just a thing with a new logo slapped on and an Xbox controller in the box, might give us a better idea of what Microsoft has in mind.
But the company has every reason to be cautious. Even though Vision Pro is impressive from a technical standpoint and is getting even better with software updates, it’s not going to wow the world. The high price and lack of clear use cases were big obstacles that prevented Apple from influencing the public’s mind about mixed reality. If everything changes in a few years, it’s good that Microsoft waited, but it’s also possible that the company was right to back away from mixed reality.
